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Although Steaua’s attacking midfielder Dayro Moreno recently stated that he refuses to return to Romania and hoped for a move back to Once Caldas, it seems that the Colombian club cannot afford the only terms accepted by the Bucharest side.

So Moreno might change his mind once he’ll find out that FC Tumisoara, another title contender, is ready to pay 550.000 EUR for him. The Viola outfit has asked FIFA agent Daniel Stanciu to get in touch with the player’s agent and present the huge salary 180.000 EUR per season (at Steaua his wages had been cut to 60.000 EUR).

A contract will be signed though only after Moreno will discuss face to face with coach Ioan Ovidiu Sabau, who will have to be convinced that the Colombian talent can and is willing to change his atitude.

According to prosport.ro, Romanian international Razvan Cocis (26) will move to Portsmouth as a free player, after three seasons spent at Lokomotiv Moscow. Cocis is an attacking midfielder and was a regular starter for the National Team undet Victor Piturca. Lately, though, he had fell out of favor in Russia and struggled to catch the eye of new coach, Razvan Lucescu. He has 32 caps and 2 goals for Romania and, interesting fact, he spent three seasons at each club he has played for until now: Universitatea Cluj, Sheriff Tiraspol and Lokomotiv. Another interesting fact: he hasn’t played in the Romanian first division and also refused a return home this winter, in spite of several offers from all the big clubs.

Cocis is the type of hard-working midfielder, attacking minded, and can cover almost any position, showing nice versatility, tactical discipline, good work ethic and decent technique. My problem with him: I cannot put my finger on his precise role, the place on the pitch from where he could be most effective. Right footed, lacks the vision and the passing precision for a place in the middle of the park, but his stamina and workrate would definitely make him a valuable box-to-box midfielder. I’d see him as a central-right midfielder in a midfield of five, because he’s not gifted enough to play as central attacking midfielder or as a winger.

Anyway, probably manager Avram Grant saw something in him and has a scenario for this player already. The good news is that, after five years, another Romanian player makes it into the Premier League and, this time, I am sure that he will only prove that you can also find in Romania players that are serious, disciplined, who can adjust to the league and won’t cause off the pitch problems.

Update: The player will get 700.000 EUR per year, for the next three seasons, but has a release-for-free clause in his contract, in case Pompey won’t avoid relegation.

Bogdan Mara (32) stayed unemployed for just a day. The experienced winger, recently released by CFR Cluj, signed for Iraklis (11th place in the Greek first division) until June 2011. He’ll get 180.000 EUR per season and will be helped to adjust to the new environment by former Steaua and Kaiserslautern centre-forward Victoras Iacob, while playing alongside footballers like Sam Dalla Bona or Matias Lequi.

Rapid Bucharest signed Serbian defender Nikola Beljic (25). He rejoins former team-mates from OFK Belgrade, Djordje Ivelja (24, central midfielder) and Vladimir Bozovic (28, left back) and will spend the next three seasons at the Bucharest side. Beljic was in the last six months of his current deal and Rapid paid a 50.000 UER transfer fee to get him now.

Rapid also announced to have agreed terms with both Ventspils and Edgars Gauracs (21). The striker is expected in Romania tomorrow, when he should sign the contract. The Latvian U21 international comes on loan until the end of the season and Rapid has a buying option in the summer.

Dinamo Bucharest allowed George Curca (28) to return to Farul Constanta, where he had spent the previous nine seasons. The goalkeeper was on loan until the summer, when Dinamo could have made the deal permanent in exchange of 250.000 EUR.

Hristo Yovov refused to sign for Steaua and returned to Levski’s training camp. The problem wasn’t the new self-imposed salary cap at Steaua (120.000 EUR / season), but the cautious approach of the Bucharest side. The latest poor investments in foreign players (I’ve explained in a previous post the reasons) determined the red and blue outfit to offer only six months deal with an option to extend afterwards.

Like this:

Daniel Gabriel Pancu (32) moves to Bulgaria and signed a contract with CSKA until June 2011. The versatile and experienced attacking midfielder spent the last year and a half at Terek, in Russia, where he scored 10 goals in 33 appearances. Pancu rejoins former team-mate from Terek Florentin Petre (33) and hopes to win the title with his new club.

The Argentinian centre forward signed today a five years long contract with FC Timisoara and will earn 150.000 EUR per season. Pablo Osvaldo Sanchez is 27, comes after an excellent season in Bolivia (17 goals in 29 matches for Strongest) and Timisoara had to pay 500.000 EUR to complete the transfer.

Although club owner Adrian Mititelu tried this winter to appoint former NT coach Victor Piturca as general manager, he must find satisfaction in convincing his son, Alexandru Piturca (26), to sign for the club.
The striker comes as a free agent, after a poor half of season in Brasov, where he failed to earn a spot in the first eleven, but after two decent seasons at Pandurii Targu Jiu, where he was important for the team, but never looked like an impressive scorer (9 goals in 51 appearances). His contract with Universitatea will expire in June 2013 and he’ll be paid with 100.000 EUR/season.

Radu Baicu

• 10 years of continuous work in scouting, for top clubs and companies;
• Worked for clubs like Bayer 04 Leverkusen and Hannover 96, monitorring the Romanian market;
• Worked for Birmingham based company 'The Scouting Network' (www.tsn.co.uk) as a football scout;
• Worked for Zurich based company Boutique Football as a scouting network coordinator;
• International scout for Young Boys Bern for 2 years, covering Eastern European football.
• Currently working as an international scout for a top French club, covering Eastern European football.